Fort Lauderdale Attorney Weighs in on What Florida’s Stop WOKE Act Means for Employers

In a recent article featured in International Employment Lawyer, Alex Castro talked about the “Stop WOKE Act,” which passed in Florida’s legislature on March 10. It would ban discussion of critical race theory (CRT) from organizations’ diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) training programs, and is expected to be signed into law by Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the coming days. 

Alex said that the new law looks to outlaw conduct that was, arguably, unlawful prior to the amendments.

“The amendments do not prohibit diversity training, but they do make it unlawful for an employer to conduct it in a way that makes employees believe, or shares the view that, someone is inherently consciously or unconsciously racist or sexist because of who they are or that they are responsible for historical events because they were committed in the past by someone of their same class,” he said.

Moreover, Alex mentioned the legislation offers employers a good opportunity to review their DE&I programs to ensure more objectivity in training sessions.

“They should evaluate their programs from the perspectives of people of various backgrounds, and they should also reflect on whether they have any conscious or unconscious biases that are influencing their programs,” he said.

Read the full article in International Employment Lawyer (subscription, which is free, is required).